• The Right Side of History

  • How Reason and Moral Purpose Made the West Great
  • By: Ben Shapiro
  • Narrated by: Ben Shapiro
  • Length: 6 hrs and 6 mins
  • 4.7 out of 5 stars (7,958 ratings)

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The Right Side of History

By: Ben Shapiro
Narrated by: Ben Shapiro
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Publisher's summary

America has a God-shaped hole in its heart, argues New York Times best-selling author Ben Shapiro, and we shouldn't fill it with politics and hate.

In 2016, Ben Shapiro spoke at UC Berkeley. Hundreds of police officers were required from 10 UC campuses across the state to protect his speech, which was - ironically - about the necessity for free speech and rational debate.

He came to argue that Western civilization is in the midst of a crisis of purpose and ideas. Our freedoms are built upon the twin notions that every human being is made in God’s image and that human beings were created with reason capable of exploring God’s world.

We can thank these values for the birth of science, the dream of progress, human rights, prosperity, peace, and artistic beauty. Jerusalem and Athens built America, ended slavery, defeated the Nazis and the Communists, lifted billions from poverty, and gave billions spiritual purpose. Jerusalem and Athens were the foundations of the Magna Carta and the Treaty of Westphalia; they were the foundations of the Declaration of Independence, Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation, and Martin Luther King, Jr.’s Letter from Birmingham Jail.

Civilizations that rejected Jerusalem and Athens have collapsed into dust. The USSR rejected Judeo-Christian values and Greek natural law, substituting a new utopian vision of “social justice” - and they starved and slaughtered tens of millions of human beings. The Nazis rejected Judeo-Christian values and Greek natural law, and they shoved children into gas chambers. Venezuela rejects Judeo-Christian values and Greek natural law, and citizens of their oil-rich nation have been reduced to eating dogs.

We are in the process of abandoning Judeo-Christian values and Greek natural law, favoring instead moral subjectivism and the rule of passion. And we are watching our civilization collapse into age-old tribalism, individualistic hedonism, and moral subjectivism. We believe we can reject Judeo-Christian values and Greek natural law and satisfy ourselves with intersectionality, or scientific materialism, or progressive politics, or authoritarian governance, or nationalistic solidarity.

We can’t.

The West is special, and in The Right Side of History, Ben Shapiro bravely explains that it’s because too many of us have lost sight of the moral purpose that drives us each to be better, or the sacred duty to work together for the greater good, or both. A stark warning, and a call to spiritual arms, this audiobook may be the first step in getting our civilization back on track.

©2019 Ben Shapiro (P)2019 HarperCollins Publishers

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As an atheist

As an atheist I want to let others like me know that the book has a lot of religious material. And there is a slight slant towards making atheism seem illogical. Dont let that deter you though. There is a fantastic underlying premise to the book and as someone who loves history, Ben is spot on when he points to the merging of Jewish spirituality and Greek reasoning as the turning point for society into modernity. And it is undeniable that the church built a framework for the rise of European societies. While I dont actually believe in God, the belief in him might be the only reason we made it. If only because it humbled people to see themselves as equal in the 'eyes of God'.

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281 people found this helpful

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I didn’t know Ben could talk so slow

For those that know Ben and listen to him speak you know he talks very fast. In this recording he slows it down A LOT. If you speed it up to 1.25x or 1.5x you will have normal Ben speed and finish the book quicker. Great Work Ben!

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The first time Ben is speaking slowly!

I needed to raise the speed to 1.5 to hear ben in his usual speaking voice

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64 people found this helpful

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  • 06-10-19

Shapiro's approach contradicts his thesis

I had heard of but never read or seen Shapiro himself before. I agree with him re: the value of free speech and open debate of ideas, which is why I chose to listen to this book. His conclusions that we need to hold onto the values that have been passed down to us, and pass them down to our children are important arguments. His underlying thesis that we are the inheritors of a great (though not flawless) cultural tradition based on reason and strong values is well founded. In making this argument he runs through an impressive array of Western thinkers, but does so in a cursory fashion and presents judgment on them based on very narrow selections of their work. Ultimately he appears to discard most without really presenting a fair view of them - even though this is exactly what he suggests he's against. I'm fortunate enough to have read many of the works he references (and by his own report dismantles); it is sad to think that his interpretation may be the only one many of his readers will ever hear. He is defending reasoned argument and open debate but doing so by presenting only a fraction of the other side and not applying sincere reason. The best example of this I recall was his comparison of the relative strength of Western vs Muslim culture, that basically the Christians won the Battle of Tours, therefore Western civilization is superior. Such flimsy argument/conclusions contradict his (well-founded) thesis on the value of seeking truth by using reason applied to full presentation of arguments.

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Thorough and brilliant

You ever get the sensation when someone explains something to you, that you knew it all along but never had the ability to put it into words?

That’s what this book is and is a testament to the veracity of this work and the clarity and precision of its language.

Shapiro does a wonderful job of summarizing the history of Western values as well as the forces currently besieging them. I cannot recommend this work highly enough, and this will forever be one of the 5 books I will have wherever I go.

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Long-Awaited & Excellent

I almost always listen to audiobooks at 1.50X speed, but this wasn't exactly an option for Ben Shapiro's rate of speech. Very well organized, concise, insightful, relevant, and well-timed for the issues of today. More great stuff from Ben--Highly recommended!

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Not Shapiro at his best

Look, you can easily call me a fan of Shapiro, but this is not very good, He makes some good points, but they are all marinated in fallacious attacks of people he disagrees with, and dismissal of strong points without argumentation. Half way through I didn't really want to read any more, since I was feeling my respect for him dwindle. I'm glad I finished, however, since it gave me a better understanding of Ben himself, and the ending was very wholesome. Good luck on the next one, man, I hope it'll turn out better than this.

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History of Philosophy

The book reads very much like a philosophy class. I enjoyed the historical review. Shapiro makes few conclusions in the bulk of the book, although his tone does occasionally reveal his viewpoint. The end of the book is worth the wait, though. He states clearly the greatest imperative to people who believe in hard work, individual merit, freedom and respect for everyone - retake the (read the book)!

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Not for the historian or philosopher.

A poor use/understanding of the history of western philosophy. Shapiro uses a great deal of very resourceful rhetoric and the attempt to establish an evaluation and history of western values is interesting. The task of evaluating values is always difficult. However, this leaves to much wanting and confuses too much in terms of the history of philosophy.

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Just Ben ranting for 6 hours about culture wars

I really wanted to like this book. I listen to Ben's show every day, but where he really loses me is his incessant obsession with culture wars, and this book is chock-full of these diatribes. He regularly makes claims of what "leftists" seek to accomplish to ruin the country, but he never really cites any specific examples. I expect him to ramble and sometimes not make much sense on his show, but I thought he'd take his task more seriously when writing a book. His talk about God sounds like something more out of an evangelical Christian self-help book and not in the vein of an Orthodox Jew

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